13 February 2024

Italy: Cementir's full-year 2023 results show sales of Euro1.69bn, down by 1.7% year-on-year from full-year 2022 levels. Nonetheless, the company’s earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 23% to Euro411m. The company more than doubled its net cash position to Euro218m. Under its Plan 2024 – 2026, Cementir aims to raise its sales by 18% to Euro2bn, its EBITDA by 3.4% to Euro425m and to more than double its net cash position again to Euro600m in two years.

Chair and chief executive officer Francesco Caltagirone said "Despite an increasingly uncertain macroeconomic scenario due to growing geopolitical tensions and more restrictive monetary conditions, in 2023 the group demonstrated significant resilience, setting new records thanks to an even more diversified geographical and product mix. The general weakness in volumes, with the exception of Türkiye and China, was balanced by the improvement in operational efficiency. The new industrial plan to 2026 continues to place sustainable organic growth at the centre of our strategy, confirming all medium and long-term objectives and continuing on our path towards decarbonisation."

US: CRH has completed its acquisition of a portfolio of cement and ready-mix concrete assets from Martin Marietta Materials for US$2.1bn. The portfolio includes the 2.1Mt/yr Hunter cement plant in Comal County, Texas.

Saudi Arabia: Yamama Cement Company has blamed a drop in sales in 2023 on a decrease in local demand. Its sales revenue declined by 7.2% year-on-year to US$250m in 2023 from US$268m in 2022. Meanwhile, the company’s net profit dropped by 14% to US$81.1m from US$94.9m.

Chile: Freehill Mining has won a US$181,000 order to supply raw materials to Cementos Melón's Coquimbo cement plant. Despatches, from the Yerbas Buenas metals mine, will take place in mid-March to mid-May 2024. Freehill Mining said that its local subsidiary is already in talks with Cementos Melón over a possible longer-term supply contract. Freehill Mining says that it processes the materials at a plant at its Yerbas Buenas site.

Freehill Mining’s non-executive chair Ben Jarvis said “This purchase order with Melón marks the first step of a major scale-up of activities at Yerbas Buenas. For the past six months, our focus has been to establish confidence with our customers so they regard Freehill as a dependable supplier. Now that we have achieved this, we are ramping up supply and thus increasing revenue. Whilst the value of this purchase order is pleasing, we are confident that much larger orders will materialise very soon.” He added “We anticipate having our larger plant operational at Yerbas Buenas by the end of this month.”

India: Tamil Nadu Cements plans to expand its limestone mining operations at the Pudupalayam quarry in Tamil Nadu. The New Indian Express newspaper has reported that local residents have protested against the planned expansion. Some local landowners claim that Tamil Nadu Cements did not pay them for the 121 hectares of land it originally acquired in Pudupalayam.